Sato Shun won the men’s Cup of China for the second straight year on Saturday (25 October) in Chongqing, People’s Republic of China.
The Japanese skater held on to his short-program lead to finish fairly comfortably ahead of Italy’s Daniel Grassl, totalling 278.12, seven points off his personal best and almost 33 points better than his season best.
Grassl ended up on 269.43 for silver while Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan took home bronze with 262.67 in an unsurprising top three.
On a night when clean skates were a premium for the men, Sato’s four minutes were unblemished as the 21-year-old nailed all his jumps including a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combo.
Sato shed tears of joy as he produced his first win since last year’s Cup of China, domestic or abroad, in making a statement in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic race.
AloJapan.com